The Bible Says What??

People of many faiths have a holy book which they hold with very high regard. Christianity is no different with our scripture. We look on the holy words that have been passed down orally and in print from generation to generation and we marvel at the awe they inspire in us. We stand wordless in front of the text that is shaping and molding us and giving us life. They are the words of the very living God.



Yet, have you ever read something you wished wasn't there? Have you ever stumbled across a string of words that has tied itself around your heart and pulled? Have you ever paged through a story and then asked God why on earth that is in our tradition? Maybe you have read something and then found yourself reading it again, almost in disbelief, "the Bible says What?" Maybe this has never happened to you. But, I am not one of those people. This has happened to me on more than one occasion. The biblical witness is complex with tension and hard truths and things that seem to contradict one another. How do we deal with these things? How do we reconcile our deepest of urges with a text that we hold so highly?



I think of one passage in particular. In the gospel of John Jesus is talking to his disciples and says to them, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Now for a lot of people this passage is one of great comfort and joy. Jesus is the way that we connect with God. It is the way in which we have union with the creator. But consider yourself someone with no Christian memory. Consider yourself someone that might not believe. How then, do you see this passage? There is tension. There is conflict. There is hard truth. Scripture is full of these examples. It is full of the mystery and tension and complexity that we cannot even begin to fathom.



The comfort that I have when reading scripture is that it always leaves me in awe. I cannot finish reading a passage without considering all that scripture is. All that it has become, all that it communicates to me about who God is. Maybe we should take time to encourage the tension, to live in the complex, to dwell in awe. Maybe we will never have all the "right answers." Maybe we are not supposed to have all the right answers because that is not what is expected of us. We are not called by God to have the right answers, to have the correct postulations of God. Maybe we are just supposed to take scripture and love it. To see it for what it is, a testament of how much God loves the world and how much God is doing to reconcile the world to God's self. Maybe we just have to be faithful. Because after all, that is all theology is--faith seeking understanding. May we be faithful to God as we move forward with scripture, never searching for a right answer but a deeper relationship with our Creator.



Grace and Peace

Prayer for Gaza

We have been talking and praying together in the recent weeks for the end of violence in Gaza. Yet, rockets are still being fired and the boots of Israeli troops are still moving deeper into Gaza. Below is a statement from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (of which we are a part). Please take a moment to read the statement and pray for both sides involved in this conflict. Let us hope that peace can be brought to the region. If you want to know more about the WARC. you can follow this link: http://warc.jalb.de/warcajsp/side.jsp?news_id=1731&part_id=0&navi=6


A CALL TO PRAYER AND ACTION TO END THE VIOLENCE IN GAZA From the World Alliance of Reformed Churches As the number of deaths in Gaza continue to rise, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) calls upon our member churches to be in prayer for those who suffer because of this violence and conflict and for a lasting peace with justice in this region of the world. We also call upon all parties involved in the fighting to bring an end to the violence and to agree to an immediate cease-fire. The borders of Gaza must be opened, and soon, to humanitarian aid and desperately needed medical assistance for the sick and wounded. To this end, it is imperative that the United Nations and the international community press the warring parties to bring an end to the violence. None of the violence is acceptable. The rockets from Gaza aimed at Israeli communities are destructive and the suicide bombing incidents cannot be condoned. They constitute a violation of the sanctity of life. We strongly condemn the air and ground assaults from the Israeli Defense Forces leading to senseless deaths and injury to hundreds of people. These must end immediately. While every effort must be made to bring an end to the immediate hostilities, we must also recognize that this violence in Gaza is only one symptom of the decades-long failure of the international community, the Israeli government and the leadership of the Palestinian community to achieve a just and lasting peace that ensures the security, well-being, and self-determination for both the Israeli and Palestinian people. As has been said often, peace is not only the absence of violence but also the presence of justice. We must all pray and work for an end to blockades, illegal settlements, suicide bombings, walls of separation, and all other conditions of oppression that prevent people in Palestine and Israel from experiencing the life in fullness that God intends for all. We yearn for an end to 60 years of uncertainty, violence and oppression, all of which has left its scars on all parties regardless of ethnic, religious or political identification. It is our fervent prayer for an end to this current violence in Gaza, recognizing that no real peace can be the issue of a cease-fire that is not followed by new determination by all parties that it is time for genuine commitment to a just peace. We call on all our member churches to pray for all those who have been affected by these callous developments and engage in actions to stop the carnage and build a just and lasting peace.

Clifton Kirkpatrick President

Setri Nyomi General Secretary

Thanks for taking your time...Grace and Peace

Happy Epiphany!!

That's right, today (January 6th, I'm writing this a day early because I'm having surgery tomorrow) is Epiphany. A day when Christians celebrate the revelation of Christ Jesus in human form. Wait...wasn't that Christmas (I sense the wheels in our minds turning)? Actually, Epiphany is the day when the Church celebrates a few things related to the revelation of Jesus. The first is the revelation to the gentiles, which is represented by the visit of the Magi (wise men). The Magi coming to Christ child is a representation of the fact that this good news is for all people. For, these magi were not from Jewish decent but, were foreigners.

Another aspect of Epiphany is the revelation of Christ at his baptism. We get our word Epiphany from the Greek language where it means to show or manifest. Therefore, when Jesus is baptized his nature is shown; the identity of Jesus is revealed to the world. When Jesus comes up from the water, Heaven breaks open and the voice of God comes down and a dove descends (these are symbols of the Trinity), and Jesus is shown to be the Son of God.

A good way to think about this Epiphany is the theme that we have been talking about through Advent. This idea of Darkness to Light. Epiphany is a celebration and commemoration of the light that has come into the world to rid it of darkness. Epiphany is the day when we take the time to understand just who Jesus is and we continue to celebrate the awe inspiring mystery that is God among us.

I pray that you sense the realness of Christ; that you feel the warmth of the light of Christ wherever you are today. I pray that the revelation of God may be real to you even if it feels oh so far off. May the light of Christ Jesus shine on you this day and always. Happy Epiphany!

Grace and Peace

clean slate

I am sure many of us are familiar with the concept that a new year gives us all a "clean slate" with which we may have a "fresh start" in the coming year. A new year is a time of new possibilities and new opportunities and, we can forget about the old year and what has happened in that year.

Such thinking is somewhat problematic for me. I don't really believe that it is ever that simple. I hope that we don't just forget the past year and that we just don't forget whatever has lead us to the places in our lives. Scripture is like that too. If we don't know where we have been in the story of God we have no idea where we are heading. The story that is told in the Bible is a story that is working toward something. From the void that precedes creation in Genesis to the New Heaven and New Earth that are portrayed in the revelation to John, the Bible is pointing us to a larger story of how God is working toward the redemption of the world.

Yet, if we just hang out to the hope of redemption without ever taking a look at our history as people, then we will lose our memory of why we need to be redeemed. Redemption will lose all of it's power, mystery and loving energy.

We all have history. We all have a story. Where we are right now is directly related to where we have been.

There is no college without high school

There is no death without life

There is no marriage without courtship

Likewise, our relationship with God follows a similar pattern:

There is no Exodus without Egypt

There is no need for Messiah without our Bondage to sin and death

There is no redemption without Exile.

Redemption is a force of the living God that is working within a world that is in exile. We have seen the grace and truth of Jesus and we want more of that. We want Christ to come back. We want that full revelation of the Kingdom of God. But if we don't have our history, our years before this one, we will miss the wait.

Redemption is tied to remembering. We have advent to remember the coming of Christ. We have Christmas to mark a celebration of his birth. We have lent to remember we are ashes and dust without the breath of God. We have good Friday and Easter to remember the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Redemption is tied to remembering. If we don't know where we've been, we can't understand where we are going.

So as we look at a new year, many of us will say, "I need a clean slate." "It's time for a fresh start." Yet, when we embark on a new year that is full of fresh ideas, possibilities, and opportunities, don't forget to remember. Don't forget that redemption is tied to remembering. Don't forget that the scriptures are a story that are pointing us somewhere. Many of us might be in messy places or have been in messy places the past year. But out of Exile come Redemption.

Happy New Year!

Grace and Peace